Huey Ling is a practising visual artist who specialises in ceramics, having gone through a 3-year apprenticeship in a bowl and plate-making ceramic workshop in Malaysia before going on to further study in Australia.

She shares a work space with three other artists at the Bedok Industrial Park where they have a kiln to fire ceramics art pieces.

Although she prefers to spend more time on her art works, the NAFA graduate also teaches part time in many places, sometimes in primary schools, mostly in NAFA and Temasek Polytechnic, covering subjects like 2D drawing and painting to 3D clay and wire.

The artwork

Through our interview, Huey Ling expressed her observation of a conservative and repetitive local ceramics environment due to the demand for more functional ceramic ware. However, in her opinion, the word ceramics should transcend beyond functionality into something more contemporary. What is interesting is that her porcelain art works are made of a diverse range of materials, including rice papers and even wool that are used for felting. Hence, her art works are considered unconventional by most in the Ceramics field. Huey Ling believed that the concentrated activity of the making processes will uncover the responsiveness hidden in the materials, hence bring forward the spirit of the process and its energy to the viewer.

Although her art works focus more on the aesthetic aspects, she had chosen to title them “Vessels” just like the wares she made as a potter, which contain and carry things. She sees her artworks as vessels of aesthetics, of the form, of the translucency and whiteness of the porcelain material. Below is an extract from Huey Ling’s blog on what the knitted vessel series is about.

Knitted vessel

“Knitted vessel series is an on-going exploration of form, paper, porcelain and slip casting. It is a combination of multiple methods and processes where rice papers were first cut and twisted into cords, then meticulously crocheted into shapes. The paper crochet shapes were then dipped into porcelain slips to form a slip cast on the paper crochet. Finally, the work is put in a kiln where the paper is fired away to produce the porcelain form.”

It is not difficult to imagine the tedious process where the artist has to go through trials and errors to master the materials and understand what works, and also the agony she probably went through when a full kiln of work failed 2 weeks before an important exhibition. As Huey Ling highlighted, it takes a lot of discipline and perseverance for one to become an artist in Singapore. I guess many makers will also find the challenges familiar.

The Faire

Huey Ling had learnt about the Singapore Mini Maker Faire through a friend and she was keen to get to know other people who like to make things. If you drop by her booth, do say “Hi’ to her!

While some pursue “making” purely as a hobby, others consider starting a sustainable business. At this year’s Singapore Mini Maker Faire, a youth entrepreneur speaker shares his views on starting a sustainable business and product development and validation – Looi Qin En.

The speaker

Qin En is dedicated to accelerate business growth through best practices, knowledge and a pair of hands. He enjoys working with startups to catalyse growth, and believe that brand & marketing is vital to success. He will be enrolling in Stanford University in Fall 2014.

Qin En

The presentation and workshop

Qin En shared with us that this would be the second time that he conducts a talk on business sustainability (the first was back at his alma mater, Hwa Chong Institute to a 800-strong crowd of youths), but the product validation workshop is novel, hence it would be pretty interesting to see how it would be run. From what we heard, participants would actually be required to walk the streets of Orchard Road to get customer feedback!

Curious about Qin En’s motivation? He shared that he would like to champion action-oriented entrepreneurship, to call for action rather than mere discussion. He will be co-delivering the presentation and workshop with two other friends Oswald and Ying Cong who are passionate about the same cause, and will be sharing their own experiences running an online apparel enterprise and an intern matching programme. Want to know more about Qin En? Check out his website.

If you are someone who wants to take action and experience entrepreneurship, regardless of whether you have your own business idea to start with, Qin En would like to encourage you to attend this presentation on “Starting a Sustainable Business to Sell Your Product” (27 July, 4 – 5pm) and a workshop on “Developing & Validating a Product which Customers Are Willing to Pay For” (27 July, 5 – 6.30pm). Curious enough? If you are, check out the pre-registration site here.

Come by the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013 at SCAPE Warehouse on 27 July from 12pm to 1pm, and from 3pm to 4pm.

Tony C will be showcasing two Ironman costumes which he built himself. Attendees to the Faire are welcome to take photographs with him and his son, the mini ‘Iron Patriot’, at the above timing. Don’t miss the chance!

As many of you would know, there will be a 3D printing forum this year to facilitate conversations and discussions about a subject which is not totally new, but had definitely caught on a lot of attention in recent years.

The Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013 would next introduce a two-men team who came together into a 3D printing endeavour and their efforts in the local 3D printing scene – Hanyang Leong and Jerett Koh (Funbie Studios).

About Funbie Studios

It is always interesting to learn how the Maker Faire has inspired individuals. It was revealed to us that Funbie Studios was formed shortly after Hanyang and Jerett checked out the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2012 and got interested in 3D printing, its flexibility and potential, especially in terms of collaborations.

That actually began their relatively new adventure in 3D printing, working off their 6-month old Makerbot Replicator 2, exploring prints off open source designs and coming up with their own designs.

Funbie Team with their Makerbot Replicator 2

They shared that at the beginning, they will take designs from Thingiverse to test print, while they familiarise themselves with their printer and start to come up with their own designs such as a namecard holder, a CD stem to hold a CD in place on the table, and even a detailed design of a rickshaw. They use a range of designing programmes, from basic ones like SketchUp, Blender, AutoDesk 123D and Sculptris to more comprehensive tools such as Rhino3D and sometimes Processing for code-generated 3D models. Mainly, Funbie Studios focus more on collaborative projects with a design focus.

Check out their designs they shared at Thingiverse here. To Funbie Studios, sharing their designs is a way to contribute back to the online community that has helped them start up. Kudos to the team!

Their views of the local 3D printing scene and way forward

Funbie Studios remarked that 3D printing has become a hot topic lately and is being watched closely by many. They have many aspirations for the way forward.

Besides design work, Funbie Studios is active in gathering the community to come together to work with and learn from one another. This explained why they organise the bi-monthly Singapore 3D Printing Meetup to provide like-minded people with the platform to come together, share what they have been up to, enhance their knowledge in this area, and also to introduce this technology to the less initiated. One recently took place on 11 July and we heard that the response was overwhelming! This was why they were enthusiastic towards the idea of the 3D printing forum that will take place on the second day of this year’s Singapore Mini Maker Faire.

On the educational front, Funbie Studios have also been engaging students not only from the tertiary level, but also from the Secondary and Primary level! So 3D printing is going to schools too!

Multicolour cogvase that will be showcased this weekend!

Funbie Studios has also been reaching out to work with others in the 3D printing field and the maker community to explore collaborative opportunities. Funbie Studios shared that they have been working with Shapeways (a 3D printing marketplace) and will be representing them with a booth at the Singapore Mini Maker Faire as well.

In time to come, they are also looking to create a Makerspace which is equipped with a whole suite of tools to allow the community to gather, learn from one another, make stuff and have fun in the process!

If you are keen to speak with Hanyang and Jerett from Funbie Studios, drop by their booth at the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013 at SCAPE Warehouse on 27 & 28 Jul! Hanyang will also be part of the panel for the 3D printing forum on 28 Jul, 10am – 2.30pm. Do pre-register if you are keen to join in!

Are you someone new to the term 3D printing, and still trying to figure out how it works? Are you a veteran user who have years of experience and keen to share your knowledge?

Whichever category you belong to, as long as you are excited by the term 3D printing, you will probably like the concept of a 3D printing forum too, where like-minded people exchange pointers about this interesting and still evolving technology.

Recently, one of our panellists also organised a 3D printing forum and the response was great. For those of you who have missed out that session, do not miss the chance again! Join us on 28 July, 10am at SCAPE Gallery Level 5.

What started as a hobby for Star Wars enthusiast Kit Woo soon turned into a burning passion, and today, KitSabers is one of Asia’s fastest growing custom lightsaber forges.

Working with a variety of materials including PVC plastic, metal and polycarbonate, Kit has made hundreds of geek dreams come true and created multiple lightsabers in a variety of colors that are perfect for stunting and dueling.

Kit is also the preferred lightsaber smith for FightSaber, a dedicated Star Wars inspired stage choreography and theatrical arts troupe based in Singapore, as well as FightSaber’s satellite groups in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Visitors to the Faire can expect to see Kit’s sabers in action at the Geek Crafts Expo and on the show floor.

Neo Tokyo Project (NTP) is a cosplay and pop-culture start-up that aims to bridge the gap between fans of pop-culture and the companies they adore, by bringing characters from popular computer and console games to life.

The company works with corporate partners and sponsors to bring fresh content to the local cosplay community, and is a forerunner in Singapore’s geek crafts culture, especially in the realm of steampunk.

As costume makers, NTP’s EVA foam creations have wowed fans the world over, and they will be exhibiting some of these costumes, as well as steampunk creations at the Faire.

Founded in 2011, Project Zen is a costuming and prop-making circle dedicated to pushing the boundaries of cosplay in the local and international scene – through a marriage of proven costume creation and prop-making technologies with quality dramatic performances.

This hobby society brings together close to a dozen individuals armed with more than half a decade of cosplay and stage experience, as well as enthusiasts who strive to constantly challenge themselves; to find new and innovative ways to bring their favorite anime, comic book and game characters, costumes, and props to life.

Project Zen utilizes a wide variety of materials in their creations, and will be showcasing some of their latest costumes and projects at the Faire.

Scouter Props is a two person team aiming to create high quality and accurate props and replicas.

They employ a variety of materials and techniques in our creation process, from scratch building, papercraft, sculpting, to resin casting.

With their respective pros and cons, they believe that there is no single absolute preferred technique, and would often utilise a number of disciplines and constantly seek out new methods to achieve our desired result.They hope to be able to share these techniques to benefit fellow crafters, so as to overall, improve workmanship and work quality.

They are especially interested in the utilisation of technology in the propmaking process, such as laser cutting and 3D printing, and its potential benefits.They will be showcasing a number of works and works-in-progress, as well as techniques and materials used in our propmaking process.

Reading the descriptions alone bring me much anticipation to see the real exhibits and meet their makers at the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013. It is eye-opening to learn that several different kind of techniques can be applied in the art of propmaking in cosplay, that technology such as laser cutting and 3D printing are also being considered as a new way of propmaking. Did these intrigued you as well? If so, remember to come by SCAPE Warehouse on 27 & 28 Jul to check out out this special curated area of cosplay art.

The group will also be having a free sharing session entitled “Cosplay Prop-making: Building 3D Maneuver Gear (Shingeki no Kyojin)” on 28 Jul, 4 – 6pm, SCAPE Situation Room, where they will share about creating gears from popular anime series Shingeki no Kyojin. More details can be found here.

I met up with David at the Science Centre Singapore nearly a month ago, only to realise that I have met him before at last year’s Faire.

David Liew came in with Ng Ling Ling at her Sugarpunk booth last year, and we all had an interesting chat then about the need to bring in more crafters for the Singapore Mini Maker Faire. When we met again this time, we had another enjoyable chat about the wide range of crafts he does and how he started crafting.

The showcase

David will be showcasing unique sculptures made out of discarded plastic drinks bottles. During the interview, I had the opportunity to look at the sculptures themselves. They are really interesting, with lots of details in terms of texture and colours. If I had not already known earlier, I probably would not be able to guess the origins of some of the sculptures.

When asked about his source of inspiration, David shared that he started off with making mini props for the Muppet show “Planet Bizzaro” in 2005 and 2006 (Reminds me of how Adam Savage of the Mythbusters started by making his own props!). That sounded quite interesting, hence I researched further after the interview and found the photos of the props and the links to the show on David’s Facebook Page, “The Sleeping Iron Foundry“. If you are keen, check it out as well and of course, do not miss out watching the funny Muppet show while checking out the props. Anyway, back to the plastic sculpture, David shared that he found it interesting to work on different types of plastic bottles because they all have different patterns, and you can always add on scraps. While many people throw stuffs away, David tend to keep them for his sculpturing work. Somehow, I find myself identifying with that very well!

Other makes

I was curious about the various different Facebook pages which David maintains online, made a check with him and learnt that he truly works on different areas of interest and maintains these pages to separate the different types of projects he works on. It surprised me that on top of being a sculptor, David is also an illustration artist, and a cake art sculptor. But David’s answer was quite candid and enlightening. “Just using the same sculpting skill sets!”, so he said of two of his endeavours. How true, but it takes certain character to be able to make use of their skill sets and re-apply them elsewhere. Curious about all his works and how he applies his talent at different places? Come by the Singapore Mini Maker Faire and have a chat with him personally!

Views on making

David is certainly not new to MAKE magazine, Maker Faire and the Maker Movement. When I asked him on his views on making, he shared an important point that making helps to develop problem-solving skills. I find myself agreeing. The making process takes time, and it takes many traits for a maker to complete his or her project. It cultivates patience, perseverance and when you faces problem, you will need to try again and again with alternative solutions.

From my interview session with David, I find this a good takeaway. Thinking further on his point, I find the process of making is akin to working on a school project, where certain important skill sets can be cultivated, and character can be developed. Do you agree?

The workshop

Would you like your own hands-on experience? There is an opportunity now that David will conduct a workshop at the Singapore Mini Maker Faire “Bottle Fleet – Adventures in Recycled Plastic” on 28 July, 1.45pm – 3.15pm, Colony Room at SCAPE. There will be a fee of $10 for the provision of equipment and paints, and while plastic bottles will be provided, participants are encouraged to bring along one which they would like to work on.

Do note that as the workshop involves cutting with blades and the use of hot glue gun, the recommended age would be at least 12 years old. Adults are welcome too!

If you are interested, just make payment at the payment booth at the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013 at SCAPE on the day of the workshop.

Click here to check out the other workshops and presentations which will be held on that two days!

The Singapore Mini Maker Faire brings a different range of makers this year. On top of electronics & 3D printing enthusiasts, tinkerers and crafters, we will also have an illustration artist who will demonstrate her work live at her maker booth at the two-day event at SCAPE – Yvonne Soh from “E’von LeAngelis S.”.

Her background

Yvonne shared that drawing has been very close to her heart since she was a child. She had taken part in drawing competitions in the local community centres and primary school and had been recognised by her teachers in her potential in art. Despite so, she had taken up her parents’ advice to pursue Science and Mathematics classes in her Secondary School years. However, she said that these subjects did not get to her and at the same time, she missed the opportunity to gain the knowledge of an art student. She caught on with illustration when she went to the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) to pursue her studies in graphic design, and that was after she graduated with a Diploma in Interior Design from Singapore Polytechnic.

Some people probably find her story familiar. How many of you had to pursue something which you did not fancy, but did so anyway for some other reasons?

In Yvonne’s case, she had pursued her passion in drawing at a later part of her study life, and has now found her way forward with it.

Her illustrations

When asked about her technique, Yvonne shared that most of her original illustrations are in black and white and are done either in ink or pencil with detail rendering/ shading before she puts them into Photoshop for colouring. To a layman like me, it is an interesting mixture of traditional and digital techniques. But apparently, most of the illustrations we see these days are done digitally as they speed up the process compared to traditional ways. However, Yvonne expressed an interest to master both skills.

Yvonne said that her inspiration comes from nature and dreams, and her illustrations revolved creations from imagination and memories. In fact, she still recalled her first illustration was based on a dream she had. In a way, her illustrations have become a way for her to translate messages and remember stories.

As she progresses, she also like to help people capture their stories or memories through her illustrations. Hence, she sometimes work on commissioned projects by individuals and organisations.

Her experiences

Yvonne’s illustration which won 3rd place in the Downtown Line 3 Hoarding Competition

Besides working commissioned projects, Yvonne also takes part in competitions.

One that impressed upon me was the one she drew of a train passing through Fort Canning as it portrayed families admiring the greens while they passed through the park. The sight was a pretty one.

The illustration won third place in the Downtown Line 3 Hoarding Competition and is placed at hoardings of the construction at some various spots.

Yvonne had also taken part in Noise Singapore Festival a couple of years back, and found it a memorable experience where her works were even featured on temporary box installations and at bus-stop advertisement panels.

Yvonne with her artwork at a temporary box installation

Her showcase at the Singapore Mini Maker Faire

At the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013, Yvonne will be showcasing some of her past and present works, including two bilingual flip-up books she did with MandarinaKids – “Grandma’s Eightieth Birthday” and “Little Jay Writes an Adventure”. She will also be showcasing one of her persona project – “Outside the Gadget City” which I personally like due to the interactivity. Find out more about the book through the video she did of “Outside the Gadget City”.

When she is not talking to visitors, she will also be working on her illustrations at her booth. :)

You can check out more of Yvonne’s illustration pieces at her website or her Facebook page. Drop by the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013 on 27 & 28 July at SCAPE Warehouse to check her booth out!

The Mini Maker Faire in Singapore started in 2012, but the local maker movement started at grassroots level before that. There are groups like the Hackerspace, Sustainability Learning Lab (SL2), Handmade Movement Singapore, and probably others that we were not so familiar with.

Are you a maker? If you are not already making as part of a bigger community, you might be someone who makes things on your own, without knowing that there is a bigger community out there, or because you simply prefers doing it solo.

For those who would like to meet up with fellow like-minded makers, you might be pleased to learn that during this year’s Singapore Mini Maker Faire, we will also be holding a Maker Forum that allows all makers, tinkerers, hackers, crafters, artists, and DIYers to come together for an evening of conversation and socialising.

William Hooi (Forum facilitator)

The forum will be facilitated by William Hooi, a research mentor in Science Centre Singapore, who is actively involved in our local maker scene, having spearheaded several initiatives such as the regular Makers Meetup held at Hackerspace, and the activities under Hackimedia Singapore.

Invited speakers will cover a variety of subjects from cosplay costume-making to community tinkering (full list below).

Bunnie Huang (Why Singapore is better than the US for hardware Makers)

bunnie loves hardware. He loves to make it, and to break it; he loves the smell of it. His passion for hardware began in elementary school, and since then he has garnered a PhD at MIT in EE, and has designed nanophotonic silicon chips, wireless radios, consumer electronics, robotic submarines, and other things. He believes hardware is delightful in part because there are no secrets in hardware; you just need a better microscope. Likewise, he is a proponent of open source hardware, and is an active contributor to the ecosystem. At chumby, he designed several open source hardware platforms, some of which had found its way to the shelves of retailers around the world. bunnie is also an educator; he serves as a Research Affiliate for the MIT Media Lab, technical advisor for several hardware startups and MAKE magazine, and shares his experiences manufacturing hardware in China through his blog. He currently lives in Singapore.

Jason Koh

Jason Koh, better known by his online handle Crimson, is a cosplayer, costume maker and pop-culture event organizer.His love affair with cosplay and costume making began more than a decade ago, when he was an intern at cable TV channel AXN. Since then, he has made numerous award winning props and costumes, and his cosplay has been featured around the world. He specializes in making armor costumes from popular computer and video games out of foam and common household materials, and shares his knowledge on his blog at www.neotokyoproject.com

Veera

Veera is the Kampung Tinkerer and co-founder at the Sustainable Living Lab. Trained officially as a mechanical engineer, he spent his formative years being a general nightmare around the house by taking apart (and not always putting together) all kinds of stuff and starting new organizations in LAN gaming, credit card marketing, competition planning, tinkering and sports. He is listed on several biomedical device patents and has built solar cars, wind turbines, EEG headsets and agricultural drying equipment. Being in land-strapped Singapore but wishing to have a garagelike all inventors had in Hollywood movies led him to start the Sustainable Living Lab which is Singapore’s first (and so far, only) Makerspace. Having had a strong interest in combining technology with development work, he also co-founded the Humanitarian Engineering Alliance.

Ibnur

A community-oriented ground-up innovator at Ground-UpInitiative, Ibnur believes in innovation, governance and learning from Nature. He has worked on biochip nanofabrication and ‘invisibility cloaks’. He has also developed prototypes such as a tap sensor, antennas, filters, fruit dryers and a very cool water roller. At the Housing and Development Board, he worked on vertical greening and rainwater harvesting. In 2009, he lived and studied at Silicon Valley. He worked at Zong, studying mobile payments, social networks and multiplayer games. He then returned to Singapore to help refine innovation at Ministry of Home Affairs. His teams have won the Daimler-UNESCO Mondialogo Engineering Award for appropriate solutions in rural India, Challenge:Future for an innovation platform prototype, and EDB-BETA for designing a health platform for 2030. He also represented Singapore at the ASEAN Youth Forum on Innovation and Creativity (AYFIC). Having done field assessments at villages in Vietnam, India, Indonesia & Cambodia, he now co-leads the Humanitarian Engineering Alliance (HEAL) and the Sustainable Living Lab (SL2), a tech-driven social enterprise in the Ground-Up Initiative ecosystem.

Liyana

Liyana is an avid supporter of digital media and technology. She was one of a select few chosen participate in the NUS – MDA overseas Silicon Valley program where she worked on product development for technology startups Qik (Skype acquired) and Burpple. In her spare time she enjoys working on developing new technologies involving 3D food printing and smart electronics, the latter of which she has submitted a paper for ACM CHI 2012. Liyana has also written on ICT for education and economic empowerment as part of her final year thesis. Her passion is to raise awareness for technology, especially for women which she currently does as the Managing Director of Girls in Tech Singapore, the local chapter of global non profit developed to encourage and motivate women entrepreneurs and engineers in the workforce. She is proud to have increased the organization members in the region from 10 to over 1000 across several countries in the region. It is her goal to empower more people to discover technology and become inventors.

Project HazeCast

Hazecast is a project by the people at Tinkertanker, Silicon Straits and their friends, namely Steven, Akmal, YJ, James and Mark. Tinkertanker has been tracking the increasing popularity of Arduino and hardware tinkering, becoming involved in the effort to expand the local mindshare by offering introductory Arduino courses, building their own starter kit, and hopefully soon launching an online store that is friendly to novices and experienced tinkerers alike. They decided to tackle the haze problem from a Maker’s perspective, by building a cheap air quality monitor kit to empower everyone to monitor the quality of the air around them. Different people are still working on various aspects of the project: prototyping the product, characterising the sensors, data visualisation, etc, working together out of the makerspace at Silicon Straits.

I interviewed Kang at his booth at MAAD, Market of Artists And Designers, a monthly event that takes place at the Red Dot Design Museum. Along with me was a crafter friend I met at another event, and off we went to MAAD to soak in the ambience of creativity, and to get inspired.

During the brief interview with Kang, better known for his accessories label “theKANG”, he shared how he had always liked to personalise his own clothings and accessories such as his Tshirts and shoes during his teenage years. He likes handmade things with a unique touch, and which is different from others.

Kang produced a wide range of accessories using the chainmaille technique, such as rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. From the video he shared below, you can see that he is very well versed with it. What is impressive is that he picked it up from scratch on his own.

Recently, he also explored using cable ties in his accessories-making. When asked where he gets inspiration from, Kang said ideas just come along as he makes stuffs. How true!

Kang shares stuffs at the Instructables website too. For those of you who are not familiar, Instructables allow people to share with other people how they do things. It contains lots of wisdom put together by those who believe in the open source.

Kang shared that theKANG is his full time endeavour, and he has been doing this for about a year. Check out his website and Facebook Page too.

Interested to speak with Kang personally? Find him at his booth at the Singapore Mini Maker Faire 2013 at SCAPE Warehouse on 27 & 28 July.